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Dr. Welch is a professor of pediatrics at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. He is also a licensed professional guide, a certifying instructor (and field course instructor) for the Wilderness Education Association and a member of the Wilderness Medical Society. Welch has drunk from many water sources with no filter other than his teeth.

While at the University of Cincinnati, Welch conducted a 1995 survey where 48 of 50 U.S. state health departments responded to a questionnaire about giardiasis in their jurisdictions, the agencies studied 80 outbreaks of giardiasis in 1991; 19 outbreaks were linked to contaminated water, and just two were associated with campers or backpackers.

Two departments considered water-associated giardiasis to be a problem for backpackers in their jurisdiction, though the study found neither had any data to reinforce the claim.

“This was a classic food/hand epidemic in all respects,” Welch says.

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Poor hygiene, Welch believes, is the real issue, as he explained in a 2004 article that appeared in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine:

“If our objective is to protect the backcountry user from enteric [intestinal] infection,” he wrote, “then we should emphasize the overwhelming evidence showing that assiduous hand-washing or using alcohol-based hand cleansers is by far the most important strategy. It must be impressed upon backpackers (just as it is impressed upon health care, food industry, and daycare workers) that stopping hand-to-mouth spread is the key to preventing gastrointestinal infection.”

With all that being said should you still treat or filter your water?  I say yes! I think it is better to be safe.  Most of the east has been farmed at one time or another at all elevations so animal contamination is likely. Using a filter, steri-pen, or drops, always a good choice.

Most importantly I think using an alcohol based hand sanitizer on the trail is crucial.  I can’t count the times I have seen people digging

Sanitize! Sanitize! Sanitize!

into their bag of GORP with dirty hands.  When the back to school products hit the shelves you can usually find convenient hand sanitizer lanyard that you can attach to your packs hip belt strap for easy access.  You should always sanitize after bathroom breaks and before meals.

How do you treat your water in the backcountry?  Do you carry sanitizer?

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